A hat tip to Glen Mason

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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There was a time not to long ago when the Gophers didn't even have three players in the NFL, yet a week from today on the game's grandest stage, we'll have three Gophers on one team in the Super Bowl. Hopefully TC, Russell or Spaeth makes a big play and we get a little love, but regardless, it's great for the program and for these three guys in particular.

Four programs have three guys on the Steelers active roster: Alabama, Florida State, Texas and the Gophers!!

http://news.steelers.com/team/player/-1?sort=8

Go Gophers!!
 

Good point Bleed.....

Usually we only watch the first half of the Super Bowl for the commercials/halftime show. With the
Gopher players all being involved that will change
 

how many defensive players?

Ohh yeah, None
 

last time i checked Tyrone Carter played defensive back?
 

I hope your not

Giving credit to Mase for developing " NFL talent". His and every head coach's goal is to develop high school talent, the rest is up to the player.
 


Wow - you guys are a tough crowd. That is really remarkable, and thank you for pointing that out, Bleed.

To be in the company of Florida State, Alabama, and Texas is quite an honor - as they are clearly football powerhouses. Hopefully our boys have a good game, and MN gets some publicity developing NFL caliber players!
 

What scares me...I read someplace that the Gophers 2010 and 2011 opponent USC also has three players in the game. That is not what impressed me. What impressed me is that USC has had at least on alum in every Super Bowl but six. I wonder if any other program can say that.

The other thing....TC was not a Mason recruit, but he did coach him to the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's best defensive back his senior year.

Can anyone name the player that finished second to Tyrone that year. He plays linebacker now in the NFL.
 

ORGopher said:
What scares me...I read someplace that the Gophers 2010 and 2011 opponent USC also has three players in the game. That is not what impressed me. What impressed me is that USC has had at least on alum in every Super Bowl but six. I wonder if any other program can say that.

The other thing....TC was not a Mason recruit, but he did coach him to the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's best defensive back his senior year.

Can anyone name the player that finished second to Tyrone that year. He plays linebacker now in the NFL.
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Brian Urlacher.

Go Gophers!!
 





I am not a huge Mason fan, but not totally against him.

With that being said, it is more of a coinsidence than anything else in my opinion. TC has been in the NFL a long time (if we are counting him for Mason), and just happened to be on an NFL team. Mason threw Russell off the team. Spaeth was a stud for us.
 

harrys ghost said:
Tyrone was a Wacker recruit.
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Exactly what I meant. I am still pissed at Mason for not giving a crap about recruiting defense in his many years here.

I love seeing these guys excel in the NFL. A Gary Russell or Spaeth TD in the SB though!
 

MNfootballfan said:
Mason threw Russell off the team.
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Mason didn't throw Russell off the team. In fact, the coaches did everything they could to keep him in school, like waking him up in the morning and escorting him to class. Even with the extra help, Russell still flunked out. I think Russell said in a recent interview that he could have tried harder to keep his grades up.
 



WAGopher said:
Mason didn't throw Russell off the team. In fact, the coaches did everything they could to keep him in school, like waking him up in the morning and escorting him to class. Even with the extra help, Russell still flunked out. I think Russell said in a recent interview that he could have tried harder to keep his grades up.
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Yeah, I didn't mean it to sound like Mason did it just because. Russell definately had every opportunity to stay in school. Russell was a poor excuse of a STUDENT-athlete. With him getting to the NFL had more to do with her personal drive, than with Mason's help in my opinion.
 

Russell got babysat and did that to himself. NOT Mason's doing. He bent over backward to help the young man out.

I remember hearing at one point that Cretin Derham (sp?) Hall had more NFL players at one point than the Gophers (late 80's early 90's?). Mason deserves credit, but frankly he had nowhere to go but up.

All that being said, I do give Mason a bunch of credit from bringing us from nowhere to the middle of the pack. I am no Masonite, but he does get my respect for running a clean program, drawing a line on discipline and sticking to it, and resurrecting the program. He made Gopher football somewhat relevant again in the market. I just think that the guy stalled and quit trying to improve and that's where he lost my support.

As for TC, Russell or Spaeth; good luck to all of them and i hope they make a play for thier team.
 

Mason was alright (and I mean that as "just alright" not not as "Awright!!!!!"). If we tip our hats to Mason, does that mean we have to carve graven images of Pete Carroll and worship them every night?

Mason had some good athletes and he developed solid college talent (for all of our running game success, you still don't see many Gopher OLs of the Mason era in the NFL). I give him credit for offering Barber when no one else looked interested and then moving Barber to RB. Maroney was a no-brainer, but certainly Mason's biggest recruiting coup. Russell was a no-brainer as well, but in a different sense of the phrase.

But Mason could never turn the corner and put together a whole season. I worry about Brewster in the same way after the 7-1 to 7-6 season. Further, Mason never developed any depth anywhere but RB. We were pretty much playing with 24 first-teamers (3 of which were RBs) and no one else during the Mason era
 

2006 Indianapolis Colts

FYI

Gophers were also big time participants on the 2006 Super Bowl winner Indianapolis Colts team with 2 players [Darrell Reid and Ben Utecht] and two coaches [Tony Dungy and Offensive Coordinator Tom Moore]. (Okay the Tom Moore reference is a bit of a stretch, but he was on the Gopher coaching staff in the early 1970's)
 

All the Gophers in the NFL seems to be more of an indictment of Mason and his tenure here than an affirmation.
 

Maximus said:
All the Gophers in the NFL seems to be more of an indictment of Mason and his tenure here than an affirmation.
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I would say the fact that Anthony Montgomery was an average-at-best college defensive lineman (in terms of production) who was drafted only because of his intriguing size/speed specs and has gone on to be an NFL starter is a kind of left-handed indictment of Mason.

According to ESPN.com, the Gophers have 15 former players drawing an NFL paycheck. Michigan has 43. Michigan State has 24. Ohio State has 40. Iowa has 24. Penn State has 28. Illinois has 19. Wisconsin has 25. Purdue has 27. From a quick look, it appears that the Gophers only have more pros than Northwestern (10) and Indiana (12).

Mason might not be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but the grand jury of recruiting and player development can at least hand down the indictment.
 

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